


Our Second Chance

by robertstankjr



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst??, Auntie Nat, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Kid Peter Parker, M/M, Nebula & Tony Stark Friendship, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Peter Stark-Rogers - Freeform, Peter is a Little Shit, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Thanos Sucks, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Uncle Happy, Uncle James "Rhodey" Rhodes, but adorable, endgame if peter was Tony and Steve’s child, i have no plans, i might make some changes to endgame, thats why he's poor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:15:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23887291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robertstankjr/pseuds/robertstankjr
Summary: "I got my second chance right here, Nat." Tony motioned to the little boy in his arms. "I can't roll the dice on it."Five years. Five years since Thanos decided to wipe out 50 percent of all life. Everyone lost someone- not one person left without a scar. But it was time to take a stand. To avenge the fallen. Whatever it takes, right?
Relationships: Carol Danvers & Peter Parker, Happy Hogan & Pepper Potts, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Quill/Gamora, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Pepper Potts
Comments: 28
Kudos: 127





	1. Nerves

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: IM NOT THE OWNER OF ANY CHARACTERS OR THE MOVIE. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ENDGAME AND DON'T WANT SPOILERS DO NOT READ! 
> 
> (it's been a year though, my guy, so you're missing out on a ton of good fanfiction)

Steve couldn't calm his heart. He was pretty sure that if he stopped bouncing his leg, he would collapse. Tony would be arriving tonight, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he was excited. Scared, but excited. He hadn't seen Tony in, what, two years? Of course there were news reports about him, but on-screen Tony was never the same. He still regretted his actions- the punches he threw, to the man he loved. Whenever he thought back to it he was disgusted. Was this what Dr. Erskine wanted him to become? A hero gone rogue? A man who would hurt his own love?

Steve knew Tony would never _truly_ forgive him, but he would never stop loving the genius. For weeks he thought that Tony was dead. For weeks, he mourned him along with his friends. He had lost most of his hope, but this small part of him hung on to the fact that they didn't know for sure if he died. Then came the message. If you could call it that. Oh, the relief that Steve felt was exhilarating. It was almost as if the world hadn't practically ended, and all he knew was that Tony was out there, alive. He hadn't shared it with anyone, but simply lied and said the recording was gone, but made sure the team knew he was there.

"Keep bouncing your knee and you won't be able to run to Tony when you see him." Natasha raised her eyebrow at the super soldier.

Steve looked up at her, immediately stopping his leg from moving. "Sorry."

Natasha smiled. She was nervous too. But she knew Tony, and he didn't forget about Steve either. He was good at doing that; pretending he forgot, that he doesn't care. It was funny, how Steve was oblivious to the fact that Tony missed him too. On the other hand, she also knew that Tony would need time in order to forgive his former teammate, and former boyfriend. He had been betrayed before, and the aftermath would always end in chaos.


	2. We Lost

Nebula let out a yell, holding out her arms in a fighting stance when Tony flicked the paper at her.

Tony raised his arms up to mirror her movements, then put his arms down. "You don't need to do that. Because-uh, you're just holding position." Nebula flicked the paper at Tony's positioned hands, almost making it. "Yeah, that was close." Nebula flicked the paper two more times, making it the third time. "That was a goal. We're now one apiece."

Nebula looked up at him. "I would like to try again." Tony nodded, and they continued playing.

When Nebula made another goal, Tony said, "We're tied up. Feel the tension? It's fun." Nebula let a small smile sneak up on her face at her accomplishment.

Tony then flicked the paper at her position. "That was terrible. Now you have a chance to win." 

Nebula made another goal. "And you've won. Congratulations." The genius shook her hand. "Fair game. Good sport. Have fun?"

Nebula nodded. "It was fun."

Tony tapped his helmet, causing the eyes to light that familiar shade of blue. "This thing on?" He sighed. He was thinner than when he came to space, and with everything that happened, it wasn't just the lack of food that caused him to look this way. "Hey Cap. Steve. If you find this recording, don't show it to anyone. It's gonna be a real tear-jerker. I'm not sure you'll get this message. I'm not even sure if you're still-" He couldn't finish that sentence. It would shatter the little hope he had left. "Oh god, I hope so. Today is day... 21. No, 22." He looked out into the darkness.

"I mean, if it wasn't for the existential terror of staring into a void of space, I'd say I'm feeling better today. The infection has run its course, thanks to the blue meanie back there. I think you'd like her. Very practical. Only a tiny bit sadistic. Some fuel cells were cracked during battle, but we found a way to reverse the ion charge to buy ourselves about 48 hours of time. But its now dead in the water. We're 1,000 lightyears from the nearest 7/11. Oxygen will run out tomorrow. And that'll be it. 

"And Steve... I know we had a rough couple of years," Tony took a breath, eyes squeezing shut at the memory that haunted his dreams, "but I hope you forgive me. For lashing out like that. He's your best friend. Your war buddy. I was just angry, confused, scared. I think I've come to terms with it. The whole mind-control thing. HYDRA is one son of a bitch. I see why you did it, and I respect you, Steve. As both Captain America and Steve Rogers. I don't know if I can fully forgive you for anything, but I know we could've gone past it. I used to hope that we could go back to what we were someday. I'm not sure if that's gonna happen; unless you send a god more powerful than Thor. But since we know there isn't a big chance of that happening, know that I don't blame you for anything. Maybe just for the destroyed suit and shield part, but we both could've talked it out. So when I'm gone... don't feel bad about it. Don't blame yourself. We all know you have an enormous guilt complex sometimes. I just want you to know that I love you. And when I drift off, I'll be thinking about you.

"Because it's always you."

Tony turned off the helmet, the blue light diminishing. He really hoped it would send. He laid down, getting ready for his last sleep. This was probably one of the only times he could go to sleep peacefully since Steve left. His eyes slowly closed shut, and he felt himself letting go. He felt himself reach out for whatever came next, until a bright light forced his eyelids to open. Even when he was dying he only got about 5 hours of rest(maybe it was more time than that on Earth but _still_ ). But then he looked. There was a blonde woman, light surrounding her form, pulling them from where they were stranded.

It was a fucking miracle.

* * *

As the ship landed, Steve ran out of the compound, his face completely free of the beard that was once there, toward everyone else. There, Natasha was waiting for him, smiling as she beckoned him over. Everyone was looking up, and when Steve followed their eyes, he saw it. The ship was being carried by Carol Danvers, who Steve had contacted about Tony. He hadn't really spoken to her about anything else, but she was willing to help and she did it. 

Steve was speechless. Carol placed the ship on the ground, and when the small door opened, Steve felt his eyes water. There was Tony, looking weaker than he had ever seen him, leaning on a blue woman. Natasha shook her friend's shoulder lightly to snap him out of his shock, and when he realized it was all real, he ran up to the man he loved more than anything. The blue woman gave Tony to Steve, and he pulled the thin man into a tight embrace. 

"Tony. Oh my god, Tony. You're okay. You're here." Steve muttered into Tony's hair, while the other man laid his head on Steve's shoulder. 

Tony pulled apart to face Steve, his eyes full of unshed tears and shame. "I let them down. I lost."

Steve shook his head. "Tony, _we_ lost."

The usually put-together man sighed shakily, leaning back into Steve. "Did everyone- the team, did they-"

Steve pressed a kiss to his head, knowing what Tony was asking. "Not everyone."

"Rhodey?"

"Here." Tony looked up from Steve's shoulder to see his best friend smiling at him, his eyes worried. Tony pulled him into a hug, and before he could even ask, Pepper ran up to them and joined in. Tony couldn't believe his luck. The three people that made him a better person, that made him feel like the luckiest person in the world. 

Pepper spoke up. "Happy's taking care of some things inside."

"Oh, thank god." Tony let a smile take over his features. 

Steve looked up to see the talking raccoon, Rocket, silently comforting Nebula. He guessed they knew each other and lost someone important too. He also saw Natasha with a knowing smile on her face. "I'll say hi later," She mouthed to him. 

Steve grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I change too many things? Or too little? I'm so new at this type of fix-it stuff.


	3. I’m Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What’s left of the Avengers plan to try to reverse what Thanos did. Tony gets rest, and Steve is determined to reverse the snap for Tony and Bucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote all of it on my phone, so there might be grammar mistakes, sorry! I’m also so pissed because I had started writing and it all got deleted so I had to redo it😤  
> But I finally finished this one!

As Tony got treated, Steve looked at him clearly for the first time since the ship landed.

“Oh, Tony, what happened?” He looked thinner than he last saw him. Weaker, hungrier, sad. It was horrible. Steve hoped he’d never have to see Tony like this again.  _You don’t deserve to be like this. You deserve way more than what anybody could give you._ Seeing Tony like this was upsetting- all he wanted was for the man to be healthy, physically and mentally, whether that meant being with Steve or not.

Then he thought back to  before. When they both had the same wishes. When they pictured their marriage. When they imagined their home. When they dreamt of a child.

Steve would give all of that to the man resting in front of him in a heartbeat. That’s if Tony still wanted that with him. God, he hoped he did. If not, he’d understand. He would be heartbroken, but understanding nonetheless.

Until they came to a decision though, Steve would stand by Tony’s side until he got better.

* * *

“It’s been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth.” Rhodey started.

“World governments are in pieces, as you can imagine. But the parts that still work are trying to take a census. It looks like he did what he said he was going to do.” Natasha added.

Tony sat in a wheelchair, listening and looking at the hologram that showed the faces of the fallen. He winced at the people he knew. The people he fought alongside of. The Guardians, Strange. Rhodey turned it off.

“Thanos wiped out 50 percent of all the living creatures on Earth.” Natasha stated.

Carol interrupted. “Not just Earth.”

“You sure about that?” Rhodey questioned.

Tony jumped in. “Where is he now?”

“We don’t know. He just opened a portal and walked through.” Steve answered.

“What’s wrong with him?” Tony motioned over to Thor, who was sitting on a bench with a sullen look on his face.

Rocket answered this time. “He’s pissed. He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did, but there’s a lot of that going around, ain’t there?”

Tony looked surprised. “Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a build-a-bear.”

“Maybe I am.”

Steve cut in. “We’ve been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans, satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him, right?”

“Who told you that? I didn’t fight him. No. He wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the stone. That’s what happened. There was no fight.” Tony said. “He’s unbeatable.”

“But did he give you any clues? Any coordinates? Anything?”

“I saw this coming a few years back. I didn’t wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming.”

Steve saw Tony get more frustrated and carry himself off the wheelchair, and tried to calm him. “Tony-“ 

“I did  learn something. History doesn’t just repeat itself, it gets  _worse_. Loki, the Battle of New York, Ultron, Germany, Siberia? That was our  warning . And I knew I had an inkling about it, but nobody listened. I remember telling you all, alive and otherwise, that we needed a suit of armor around the world, remember that? That’s what we needed. Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not-“

Rhodey tried to get Tony to sit down again. “Tony, please, sit.”

“I said we’d lose. You said “we’ll do that together too.” Well guess what, guys? We lost. And nobody was there. But that’s what we do, right? The best work after the fact? We’re the Avengers. Not the Prevengers! Right?”

Rhodey held Tony’s shoulders, trying to steady him as Steve listened, but was ready to catch him if he fell. “Tony, you made your point, now sit down.”

“No, no. Here’s my point. You know what?”

“Tones, please, you’re sick.”

He pointed at Carol. “She’s great, by the way. We need you. You’re new blood. Bunch of tired old mules!

“I’ve got nothing for you guys. No coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust.  _Liars_.”

To everyone’s shock and worry, the genius pulled out his arc reactor, and slammed it on the table in front of him. “Take this. You guys find him, and put that on. You hide.”

Then, Tony fell to his knees. Rhodey and Steve dive into catch him, but Tony waves their hands away. “I’m fine! I’m fine.” They decide to trust his words, until he collapsed.

* * *

Carol and Natasha watched as Steve held Tony’s hand and Pepper stood watching in the room where Bruce was treating him. 

Rhodey stepped out. “Bruce gave him a sedative. He should be out for the rest of the day.”

“Take care of him. When I come back, I’ll bring a bottle of Xorrian Elixir.” Carol ordered, heading for the lab.

“Where are you going?” Natasha asked.

“To kill Thanos.”

Rhodey and Natasha shared a look. 

“Hey, you know, we usually work as a team here. And between you and I, morale’s a little fragile.”

Rhodey nodded. “Up there might be your territory, but this is our fight too. Do you even know where he is?” 

“I know people who might.” Carol answered.

“Don’t bother.” Carol turned around to see Nebula behind her. “I can tell you where Thanos is. Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask ‘where would we go once his plan was complete?’ His answer was always the same: ‘To the Garden.’

“That’s cute. Thanos has a retirement plan.” Rhodey commented.

“So where is he?” Natasha asked.

“When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it... Until two days ago.” Rocket said, pulling up a hologram of a planet with a shockwave on its surface. “On this planet.”

Nebula nodded. “Thanos is there.”

“He used the stones again.” Natasha added.

Bruce came in. “Hey, hey, hey, we’d be going in short-handed, you know.”

“Look, he’s still got the stones, so..” Rhodey started.

“So let’s get him. Use them to bring everyone back.” Carol had a determined look on her face.

“Just like that?” Rhodey raised his eyebrow.

“Just like that.” Steve answered, making Rhodey turn to see him out of Tony’s room.

“Even if there’s a small chance that we can undo this... I mean, we owe it to everyone who’s not in this room to try.” Natasha agreed.

Bruce still looked unsure. “If we do this, how do we know it’s gonna end up any differently than it did before?”

Carol answered, “Because before, you didn’t have me.”

“Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don’t mind me asking, where the hell have you been this whole time?” Rhodey interrogated.

“There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn’t have you guys.”

At this, Thor stood up from where he was and walked towards Carol menacingly. As he stood in front of her, he held his arm out, and Stormbreaker flew right past Carol’s unblinking face. He smiled.

“I like this one.”

“Let’s go get this son of a bitch.” Steve nodded.

* * *

“Who here hasn’t been in a spaceship before?” Rocket asked, making Natasha, Rhodey, and Steve raise their hands. “You better not throw up on my ship.”

The ride was, for lack of a better word,  new . Steve was mesmerized by the beauty that space brought, but also terrified of the horrors that lied within. _ Tony was trapped here. _

Soon, they stopped at the planet they had looked at before. Carol was in front of them ready to go down to the planet. 

“I’ll head down for recon.”

Natasha looked at her friend. “This is gonna work, Steve.”

“I know it will,” he replied. He thought of Bucky, his best friend, how lost he looked when he died. And then he thought of Tony. How ashamed he was that he let the world down. His state of health, and his constant worry. “Cause I don’t know what I’m gonna do if it doesn’t.”

Then, Carol approached them again, ready to report what she saw- or didn’t see.

“No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It’s just him.”

“And that’s enough.”

As the titan made himself food, the Avengers, what was left of them, went in to attack. Carol slammed him to the ground, grabbing his neck while Bruce came from the ground as Hulkbuster and grabbed the gauntlet. As Bruce held it in place, Thor flew in and sliced it off Thanos’ arm, causing the giant to let out a yell of pain.

Steve and Natasha walked in, glaring at Thanos. Rocket went for the gauntlet, kicking it over to see that the stones were nowhere to be seen.

“Oh no.”

“Where are they?” Steve demanded.

Carol tightened her grip on the mad titan’s neck. “Answer the question!”

“The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation.”

“You murdered trillions!” Bruce yelled as he pushed Thanos to the ground.

“You should be grateful.”

Natasha cut to the chase. “Where are the stones?”

“Gone. Reduced to atoms.” Thanos answered.

“You used them two days ago!” Bruce pointed out.

“I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It will always be. I am inevitable.”

Rhodey shook his head in denial. “We have to tear this place apart- he- he has to be lying.”

“My father is many things. A liar is not one of them.” Nebula said.

Thanos looked up at her. “Ah, thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly.”

Thor couldn’t control his rage, and before anybody could say anything, he took stormbreaker and cut Thanos’ head off.

Rocket looked shocked. “What- what did you do?”

Thor glared at the limp body in front of him. “I went for the head,” he replied, then walked out of the shed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A certain Spider might make an appearance next chapter.


	4. Starting Anew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Steve choose to move on together and they seem to need an anchor to pull them back to Earth, and that happens to be Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this took too long, I’m so sorry! I was hoping I could’ve posted this yesterday but I didn’t have time. But here you go! Sorry if it’s a lot of time skips.

After the devastating fact that they weren’t able to reverse the snap, Steve felt lost. He couldn’t bring back Bucky. He couldn’t avenge Tony and the people he was with on Titan. Thanos has won. 

Now everyone was telling him to move on- but how could he? Everyone, every family, was on the streets, yelling for the Avengers to fix this. There were people mourning their children, their siblings, parents, friends, and even pets. How could he move on when every day he woke up he was reminded of his failure?

It was especially devastating for Tony.

“We got him.” Steve had said, his voice not as excited as it should have been.

Tony quickly got up. “Did you get the stones? Can we bring them back? Is he dead? Please tell me the universe is free from him and his ballsack of a chin.”

The hero almost chuckled. “He destroyed the stones. He’s dead, but he’s smarter than we thought. The stones are gone. There’s nothing we could do.”

The other man’s face fell immediately. “You’re kidding, right?” He studied Steve’s face. “You’re not kidding.” 

Steve’s heart broke at the sight of Tony’s watery eyes, tears spilling and making their way to the white sheets of his bed. 

“I think I’m gonna need a minute.” Steve went to leave, but before he could take one step, he felt a tug on his hand. No words were spoken, but Steve had spent the rest of the day listening to his ex-boyfriend’s broken cries and doubts. His stories, and his confusion. In the end, as hard as it was, they discussed Siberia. They both answered and asked questions. Cleared things up. Tony understood the friendship with Bucky, similar to his friendship with Rhodey. Steve understood the lack of trust that he'd have to gain back. 

Then they decided on the life they wanted to live. They both wanted quietness, that was for sure. The angry yells of people on the streets were too stressful. They wanted justice that couldn’t be given. With the other Avengers dealing with the press and telling the public what had happened, why their loved ones disintegrated, Steve and Tony realized they weren’t needed. Tony donated to some new charities and paid for damages, and Steve had a conference with the government, but after that, it was out of their hands. They were as stuck as everyone else. 

So that’s when they talked about the life they wanted to have _together_. They wanted to be able to bond, and fix their relationship in peace. Tony had said he would talk to Pepper about their plans, and how she would be happy enough to take over without him there, as she was already the CEO. They talked about a lake house, a quiet life, a small, private wedding, and a child. Steve wished he could have recorded the look on Tony’s face when he mentioned a child. His face had lit up with a smile, his eyes already dreaming of it. It was a look Steve knew, a look of excitement, doubt, unsureness, and hope.

* * *

After a while, Tony had shown him the place he would build the home. It was beautiful, and Steve could already see the beautiful views that he could draw. When they both looked at the house in person, they shared a look of happiness, a look Steve wanted to see Tony have for the rest of his life. 

Then they were on to the next step. Trust. It had taken two weeks for Tony to let Steve hug him out of nowhere, and they had spent time building the house together so they had taken some baby steps. A lot of baby steps. They planned that every night, they would talk about everything. Maybe what had gone through their minds that day, and they promised each other they wouldn’t hold back. Tears were spilled, hugs and kisses had occurred, and fights had too sometimes. But there were always apologies. They would work on that for a bit longer.

Then, Tony brought the idea to Steve: adoption. At first, Steve wasn’t sure. Wouldn’t it be better to have a surrogate? Most children up for adoption were children of the people who Thanos had turned to dust. Steve couldn’t handle doing that. He played with the idea of adoption and surrogacy in his head for a while until he decided to ask Tony. When Tony heard the idea of surrogacy, he came up with a question. Whose genes would go to the child? 

Tony demanded that Steve’s genes would go to their future baby, saying how Steve was a much better person than he was, that Steve didn’t have addict behaviors, while Steve disagreed. He told Tony that he couldn’t risk giving a baby the effects of the serum. So after weeks of debating, they decided that Tony was the safest option. Tony was still wary about it, but he accepted.

And after months of fussing over the woman carrying their child, Mary Fitzpatrick (who was very kind, and willing to make sure the baby was healthy whenever he or she was in her care) the baby was born after eight months. It was frightening, especially when Tony had reminded Steve it hadn’t been nine months, but when they saw the baby’s tiny chest rise and heard the doctor tell them it was a boy, they felt more relief than before. The relief lasted until they were ushered out of the room when Mary had started having problems. To Tony, it was all a blur, but to Steve it was all too detailed. 

The news that the nurses and doctors brought them about their friend, the biological mother to their baby, was one of the worst things they heard that night. She had died after birth, and while trying to process it, they learned they would have to keep the baby there, for breathing problems and his time to develop. 

While Tony and Steve waited to visit the baby, they slept. The hours they had been awake had taken a toll on them, even though it didn’t feel like very long at the time. So when the nurse came to tell them the baby was ready for visitors, but sensitive to touch, they practically raced to the room. 

When Tony first laid eyes on his son, he cried. Tears of joy, this time. His baby was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen besides the man next to him. The small boy was the magnificent light Tony didn’t know he needed amidst the darkness of the Snap. He couldn’t believe it. This tiny human being relied on Tony to live. The man promised himself, his baby, and his soon-to-be-husband, that he would take care of them, and he would love them so much they’d get annoyed. Anything for his new, small family.

When Steve first laid eyes on his son, he let out a huge smile. He was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. The sight of his son made him feel like that scrawny kid from Brooklyn again, his dreams of a family life coming true. He had thought he found the love of his life when he met Peggy Carter, and when those dreams were crushed and he woke up to a new world, he told himself the family life wasn’t for him. He was destined to be the hero everyone knew him to be, and that only. All daydreams he had when he was younger would stay dreams. But now- now he had a man he loved so much by his side while he looked at his son for the first time. He knew he’d do everything and anything for the two loves of his life. 

“He’s ours, Steve,” Tony sniffed a bit, not bothering to wipe his tears.

“And we’re his, Tony.” Steve pulled his boyfriend into a tight embrace, momentarily forgetting about the loss the world was recovering from, and only focusing on the two miracles in front of him. 

“But we gotta give him a name, ‘cause I want to be able to stop referring to him as ‘he.’” Tony pointed out.

Steve stared at the baby, thinking hard. They had thought of names before, but so far some of them didn’t seem to fit, and he’d forgotten some. 

“Peter.” Tony blurted out.

Steve looked at him. “Peter?” As he said the name, Steve realized how perfect it sounded and fit for the baby that was turning his head. 

“It’s the name you told me at 2:30 a.m. a week ago. I remember because I liked it.” 

“It’s perfect. Peter it is.” 

When they finally took Peter Anthony Stark-Rogers home, Tony was running around the house like a mad man. 

“Calm down.” 

“How can I calm down?” Tony yelled. “What if Peter doesn’t like his nursery? What if he decides that he hates me when he’s older? What if I start acting like- well, you know.” 

Steve sighed. “You’re not Howard, Tony. If you’re worried about being a good parent or not, you _are_ a good parent. Peter will love you no matter what, and so will I. Now come with me to take him to the nursery, that he probably won’t hate because he’s a _baby_.”

Steve carried Peter upstairs with Tony by his side, and he definitely didn’t smile at the way Tony was making sure they didn’t fall.

In the first week of having Peter at home, Tony was constantly worrying. He didn’t stop until Steve convinced him that he was already a great dad and that Peter needed his dad to be able to have a good childhood. At this, Tony realized if he kept worrying about hurting Peter and avoiding touching him in case, he would become _his_ father. So he’d have to be brave.

Tony started losing sleep again. It wasn’t as much as he lost 8 years ago, but it was about an hour. Steve would be lying if he didn’t find it adorable. Tony would sit in front of Peter’s crib, watching his son fall asleep, his small chest rising at every breath he took. It was beautiful to see his child there, breathing and resting right in front of him. _I’ll never leave your side,_ Tony had promised him.

* * *

Peter shrieked happily at the sound of his favorite song, and Tony laughed at his baby’s wiggling feet. 

“I hope he doesn’t dance like you when he’s older,” Steve said from the kitchen where he was washing dishes. 

“Oh, come on. I can jazz to a few tunes, as you’d probably say it. Right, Pete?” Tony pokes Peter’s belly, causing him to grab his finger and start shaking it around. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Their 5 month old baby had started reacting to sounds a little early, and now he loved AC/DC as much as his dad. As small as he was, he could squeal pretty loud when he was excited. 

Steve was about to go on a rant about how when Peter could walk, he’d show him how to actually dance to music, when their doorbell rang. The baby had jumped slightly at the noise, his brown eyes widening in surprise. Tony sighed, thank the gods that the doorbell hadn’t scared Peter enough to start crying. He hated seeing his baby in distress, and getting him to calm down could prove to be difficult. 

“Are we expecting any visitors?” Tony asked, picking Peter up in case of an intruder. 

Steve face palmed. “That’s what I forgot today!” Tony raised an eyebrow. “It’s Nat.”

“Nat?” A look of disbelief washed Tony’s defensive look away. 

“She contacted me a while ago. She wanted to see what we were up to. We haven’t talked to her in ages, so I thought maybe we could invite her over. She hasn’t met Peter yet, and he’s not sensitive to anything anymore, so…”

Tony put Peter on his mat and went to open the door. “You’re lucky I love you, Rogers.” When he opened the door, he beamed. 

“Mr. Stark. You miss me?” Natasha smirked.

“Depends. Are you Natalie or Natasha? There’s one that I prefer much more over the other.” 

“It better be the latter, Stark.” Natasha warned. 

“I thought that was obvious.” Tony moved to let his old friend in, but as she came through, she felt a tug on her pants.

She looked down to see a small baby on his bottom, staring up at her with big brown eyes that looked really familiar. Most likely because she had just looked into some that were just like them. His small tuft of hair was also a certain shade of brown. She smiled, and picked up the child gently. “And this is your spawn? I can tell he’s much more tolerable than you.”

Tony gasped dramatically, looking at Natasha with a betrayed look on his face. 

“Nat!” Steve walked into the living room, his hands dry of the soap and water from the sink. “I’m so glad you came, and I see you’ve met Pete.”

Natasha gave Steve a side hug, making sure she didn’t drop the baby in her arms. “I’m glad I could come too. He’s adorable, guys. Really.”

Tony stood proudly. “Of course he is. Look at his father.”

“Right,” the spy agreed. “Good job, Steve.”

“You just have to stab me in the back, huh?” Tony shook his head, pretending to be disappointed. Steve laughed.

“Only when your ego gets too high.” Natasha remarked, her teasing gaze turning soft when Peter started babbling to her. 

“Look at that. My little man over there is standing up for me. At least someone cares about me in this household.”

“No, I think he’s agreeing. Right, little bug?” Natasha cooed at the child.

“Are you calling my kid a pest?” Tony asked, fixing the pillows on the couch where Peter was laying. 

“Of course not. I wouldn’t take that title away from you. He just seems like he’s very fond of crawling around.”

Tony stood up straight. “Wrong!”

Steve shook his head, smiling amusedly. “He scoots.”

The woman rolled her eyes. “Like a cute little bug.”

“Bah!” Peter mimicked. 

“Did I mention that he started to imitate noises he hears about 2 weeks earlier than he’s supposed to? I’ve done my research, and he’s a little mastermind, so I think I have a right to be proud.” Tony pointed a finger at Natasha.

His fiancé changed the topic before they could keep talking about Tony’s ego. “We still have some chicken, rice, and caesar salad if you’re hungry.” 

“Yes, please, I’m starving. I just dealt with a couple reporters.”

When Natasha had sat down and started eating, she told them what had been happening with everyone. 

“They’re asking about you guys. They wanna know where their heroes went. Don’t worry, I told them you both are living your private lives, retired from the hero duty. Nothing about Peter.” Natasha assured them.

“Thank you, Nat. It means a lot.” Steve nodded. 

“No problem. As long as you let me see the little bug every now and then, we’ll be on good terms,” she ordered. 

“Will do,” Steve chuckled. 

“Hear that, Petey?” Tony mock whispered to his son, who was in his arms. “I think Agent Romanoff’s gotten attached to your chubby cheeks.”

“Indeed, I have, mini Captain Stark. One day I’ll take you away from the fossil and can man for a secret trip.” Natasha smiled deviously.

Steve took Peter out of Tony’s arms, nodding at Natasha. “That would actually be a good idea. Peter needs to see the city more often, seeing as how he’ll be there sometimes.” 

“Then it’s settled! As soon as your little man turns one, he’s going to have the time of his life with his new Aunt Natasha.” she crossed her arms. 

“Guess my approval isn’t important, right?” Tony raised his arms, away from his cereal bowl he was making for himself. “But if it is, I agree.”

* * *

“That was my day.” Tony concluded. “Yours?”

Peter stared up at his father blankly, big brown eyes full of wonder, before he seemed to realize Tony was waiting. He gurgled, and started babbling while his dad listened intently. 

“Mhm,” Tony hummed. “Watched your Papa draw, huh?”

When Steve walked in, he immediately took out his phone, struggling to unlock it a bit, before recording what was in front of him. His fiancé and baby boy were sitting on the ground, and Peter was simply babbling to Tony as he nodded, as if understanding every single thing that came out of their son’s mouth. He’d definitely show that to them years from now.

* * *

Tony quickly ran to the living room when he heard Steve yell for him, wondering if they were in danger, hurt, or worse. What he walked in on though, made his worried face turn into a happy one. 

“Holy- What- Hold on. My baby is on his two legs. He’s using them. He’s walking. And you aren’t holding his hand. Why aren’t you holding his hand? Oh my god. Where’s my camera? FRIDAY, you recording this?” Tony panicked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you.” Tony slid over to where Steve was sitting with a huge smile on his face. 

“Come on, baby. Come to Papa. I’m right here. It’s okay if you can’t do it, just try.” Steve encouraged. 

Peter grunted, sometimes leaning on one side and almost falling, but then balancing himself again. He was almost there.

“A little closer, Bambino.” Tony cheered.

He was so, so close. Just three more steps. And-

“Oof.” Peter fell on his knees and hands, sitting himself on the carpet, and when he looked up at his dads, his eyes were watery. 

Until Tony and Steve started cheering as loud as they could. Steve was clapping loudly and Tony was throwing his fists in the air.

“That’s my boy!” Steve said.

Peter’s sad face broke into a grin with two bottom teeth showing. His small hands started clapping too, and his giggles filled the excited room. 

Steve and Tony hugged and shared a kiss, and Steve picked up Peter, spinning him around, only stopping when he heard his son making noises.

“Dada!” Peter slapped his hands on Steve’s shoulders excitedly.

“Did he really just say that? He means it, right?” Steve’s eyes filled with tears. 

“According to my research, yes he does,” Tony answered, his eyes also teary.

Steve kisses both of Peter’s cheeks and hugged him gently. “You are such a little miracle.”

“Send that to Nat, FRIDAY.”

**4 years later**

Steve groaned at being awakened at such a late time. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up slowly and focusing on the figure in front of him.

“Papa?” Steve heard his son whimper.

“Huh? Peter? Are you alright?” Steve asked worriedly.

“Had bad dream. Can sleep with you and daddy?” Peter mumbled. 

Steve nodded. “Of course, baby.” He lifted the boy onto his and his husband’s bed, tucking him in the middle. Steve pauses when he heard Tony shuffle a bit. “You wanna tell me about your bad dream?”

Peter looked up at him shyly. “You and daddy were fighting big monsters. And then…” he trailed off, sobs racking his body. “And then it ate you and I cried but you wouldn’t come back! Daddy was crying too and he wanted to save you.”

The man rubbed his hand over his son’s small back, comforting him and telling him that him and his dad were safe and they would never let themselves get defeated. _Maybe those Avengers stories had to stop,_ he’d have to remind Tony. Though he wouldn’t listen. 

When he heard Peter’s even breaths and it was quiet enough to hear Tony’s small snores, Steve fell back asleep himself. 

When he woke up, his bed was empty and he smiled. If the music and the smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen was anything to go by, Tony had gotten Peter to help him make breakfast again. Steve let out a laugh when he heard a loud voice singing the song, and felt his heart swell when he heard Peter’s voice also attempt to sing.

“Trying to win him over today, love?” Steve asked when he made it to the kitchen. “He’s painting with me this afternoon, remember.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “We just thought we’d surprise you.”

Peter nodded. “Don’t look!” He was sitting on the counter and holding a spatula, his shirt covered in batter. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll be in the living room if anyone needs me.” Steve surrendered.

“No worries, we don’t!” Peter tried to reassure his father.

“I trust you two to not ruin the kitchen!” Steve said from the living room where he started watching television. 

The day had gone just like any regular day. Peter and Tony played around, and Peter begged Tony to tell him more about science and math. He was always desperate to learn new things, just like his dad. Then, he and Steve went to go paint and watch the view they had from the porch. After that, Steve and Tony went to prepare lunch while Peter played around the house. They trusted him not to get hurt, everything was baby-proof even if he was almost five. 

“Can you go call Peter in for lunch? I’ll set up the table.” Steve said to Tony.

The other man nodded, wiping his hands. “Yeah, lets just hope he’s not knee deep in the lake.”

Tony walked toward the small tent that Peter and Steve built together because Peter had a sudden interest in pretending that he was camping outdoors since his fourth birthday. 

“Bambino!” Tony called, clapping his hands. “It’s chow time!” He sat himself on a small chair near the tent. “Peter Anthony Stark-Rogers, want some lunch?”

Peter slowly came out of the tent with an iron man helmet on his head and a glove that looked like a repulsor aimed at his dad.

“Define lunch or crumble under my wrath!” Peter declared. 

Tony smiled. “Okay. You should not be wearing that. Your pops doesn’t even know I still have those.”

Peter giggled mischievously. “Okay.”

The helmet on Peter’s head was removed, and Tony smoothed out Peter’s ruffled brown hair. “There you go. Thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce.”

“No!” Peter made a face.

“That's what you want.” He gestured to the iron man helmet. “Where’d you find this?”

“Garage.” Peter answered innocently.

Tony hummed. “Really? Were you looking for it?”

“No.” the small boy defended. “I found it, though.”

He chuckled. “You like going to the garage, huh?” He picked up Peter and started walking to the house. “Well so does daddy. It’s fine, actually. Just don’t tell your pops or he’ll launch me into the Mariana Trench and run away with you.”

As Tony turned to go up the porch, he stopped when he heard an engine. 

“Auntie Nat!”


	5. It Sounds Crazy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott finds himself five years into the future, and Natasha misses her best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments and kudos, I’ll try to write more chapters today but online work is piling up right now.

“What the hell?” the confused man grunted, standing up and deactivating his helmet. “Hope?”

He quickly scribbled the words “HELP” on a board he found, directing it to a camera he had seen while moving around. After he had been taken out, he decided to go find out what time it was. Really, what he had missed since time in the quantum realm could be different from time in reality.

His face turned from confusion to worry when he saw all the missing posters, abandoned belongings on the streets, and homes that looked like nobody had stepped into them in years. Then, he saw a kid on a bike that seemed to be used to the environment around him pass by.

“Kid! Hey, kid!” Scott called, making the boy stop the bike and turn around. “What the hell happened here?”

The kid looked at Scott, close to tears, and just shook his head and rode away. 

Still confused, Scott finds himself at a memorial-like place. A sign is in front of it labeled “The Vanished” and many rectangles of stone that had names. Scott started panicking- the names of people that died? That went missing? _There’s so many._ Then, he realized. Cassie might be on here. Hope. Hank. No. No, no, no.

Scott ran through the stones, searching and searching for familiar names.

_Hope Van Dyne_

_Hank Van Dyne_

“Please, please, no.” He pushed himself through a young couple. “Sorry. Excuse me.” 

“No, no, Cassie, no. Please, please, please…” he trailed off, his eyes widening at shock at the name in front of him. 

_Scott Lang_

“ _What?_ ”

He was even more confused now. They thought he was dead? Cassie thought he was dead? As quick as he could, he made it to his hometown and to the home he could only hope his daughter was still in. He knocks, and right when he doubts his peanut is still here, he sees a young woman walk to the door. When she opened the door and stepped out, Scott knew it was her. He could recognize that face anywhere.

“Cassie?”

Her face was in shock and amazement, her belief that her father had vanished was gone. “Dad?”

He pulled her into a hug, and quickly pulled back to see her face. “You’re so big!”

She nodded, laughing with tears in her eyes as she embraced him again.

* * *

Natasha listened as Rocket reported his activities so far. She cut her peanut butter sandwich in a triangle, nodding.

“Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged.” Rocket said.

“It was an infectious garbage scowl.” Nebula added.

Rocket turned to Carol. “So, thanks for the hot tip.”

“Well, you were closer,” she replied.

“Yeah, and now we smell like garbage.”

Natasha cut in. “You get a reading on those tremors?” she directed at Okoye’s hologram.

“It was a mild subduction under the African plate.” the woman responded.

“Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?” Natasha asked.

“Nat, it’s an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it.” Okoye reminded her.

Natasha then turned to Carol. “Are we seeing you next month?”

“Not likely.”

“What, you gonna get another haircut?” Rocket teased.

“Listen, fur-face, I’m covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets.” Carol bristled.

“Alright, alright. That’s a good point. That’s a good point…” Rocket muttered.

Carol calmed and turned to Natasha. “So you might not see me for a long time.”

“Alright. Uh, well, this channel is always active. So if anything goes sideways, anyone is making trouble where they shouldn’t, comes through me.” the redhead told them.

When they all agreed and left, Natasha looked at Rhodey, who hadn’t. 

“Where are you?” she asked.

“Mexico. The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off.” he answered.

“It’s probably a rival gang.”

Rhodey shook his head. “Except it isn’t. It’s definitely Barton. What he’s doing here, what he’s been doing for the last few years, the scene he left.. I gotta tell you, there’s a part of me that doesn’t even want to find him.”

Natasha teared up at the thought of her best friend doing so many horrid things. 

“Will you find out where he’s going next?” she asked meekly.

“Nat…”

“Please.” she begged.

“Okay.” Rhodey sighed. He left the call.

Natasha took a breath, trying to hold in her tears when her phone rang. She looked at the contact, seeing the name Steve and collected herself.

“Hello?” she couldn’t stop her voice from cracking, and at the sound, she winced.

“Hey, Nat… Are you okay?” Steve asked, having heard her broken voice. 

“Yeah. Why’d you call?”

“I was gonna ask you something. And I wanted to check up on my friend.”

“Clearly, your friend is fine.” Natasha said.

“You know, despite everything-“

“If you’re about to tell me to look on the bright side, I will find out a way to virtually hit you with a peanut butter sandwich.” Natasha jokingly warns.

“Sorry. Force of habit.”

She sat up straighter in her chair. “What were you gonna ask me?”

“Oh, right. Tony and I were thinking of having a small get together with Rhodey, Pepper, Happy and you. A day to catch up. Tony has been dying to see everyone again, even though Pepper and Happy visited a week ago. Peter’s also been begging to see his Aunt.”

“Glad to know my little bug still loves me.” Natasha smiled at the thought of her nephew.

“It’s only been 6 months since he last saw you. Of course he’d remember you.”

“Yeah, well, six months can be a lot of time for things to be forgotten.” Natasha sighed. 

“I’m sure he misses you too. You can’t forget your best friend.” Steve knew she was still upset about Clint.

“I know,” she sniffled, “but maybe if I could still figure this out, he’ll come back.”

“It’s been five years, Nat.” Steve reminded her.

“I know.”

“I understand. I would tell Tony that we had to get through this together. That we needed to move on and grow. But I can’t stop thinking about _them_. I have a family now, an amazing husband, and a beautiful son, but I can’t help but feel like there’s still hope.”

“I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job… this family. And I was… I was better because of it. And even though they’re gone, I’m still trying to be better.”

“God, we both need a therapist.”

“You first.”

Before anyone could say anything more, someone interrupted. Camera footage suddenly popped up in front of Natasha, and she saw a man in front of her she swore had been declared one of the victims of the Snap.

As the man called for anyone to let him in on the footage, Natasha told her friend on the phone, “I’ll call you later. I’ve got some things to manage.” 

Before Steve could argue, she hung up, still watching the screen intently. 

“This has to be a recorded message,” she murmured to herself, walking toward the footage. _It was the front gate._

“Are you okay?” Natasha asked after she brough Scott in, who was pacing around the room as if struggling to say something.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He fiddled with his hands a bit. “Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?”

“Only to make conversation,” she responded.

“Alright.” He nodded. “So five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like it’s own microscopic universe,” he explained, “so, to get in there you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she’s my- she was my… She was supposed to pull me out and then Thanos happened and I got stuck in there.”

“I’m sorry,” Natasha sympathized. “That must have been a very long five years.”

“Yeah, but that’s just it. It wasn’t. For me, it was five _hours_.”

Natasha’s gaze turned from sympathetic to confused.

“See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren’t like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable.” He spotted the abandoned peanut butter sandwich. “Is that anybody’s sandwich? I’m starving.” He grabbed it and took a bite, while the woman in front of it processed the information.

“So, what are you saying?”

“What I’m saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem right now, is we don’t have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can’t stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos, and navigate it? What if there was some way we could enter the Quantum Realm at one point in time and exit at another point in time? Like before Thanos.” he suggested.

“Like a time machine?” Natasha asked incredulously.

He shook his head quickly. “No, no not a time machine. It’s more like an, uh… yeah, a time machine.” He gave up. “I know it sounds crazy. But I can’t stop thinking about it. There’s gotta be some way, it has to be possible. It’s crazy.”

“Scott, I get emails from a raccoon. Nothing sounds crazy anymore.” Natasha said dryly.

“So who do we talk to about this?”

One name crossed Natasha’s mind.


	6. A Second Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short, I know. I didn't have that much time and I really wanted to get it out. I'll start working on the next one asap, I promise.

“I’m calling Rhodey.” Natasha said, grabbing for her phone.

“Rhodey?” Scott asked.

“Tony’s friend. He lost his niece, maybe he’ll help us.” she explained.

“Tony? As in Tony Stark?”

“Yes,” she answered, getting her jacket and finding the keys to the car.

Scott shrugged. “Alright.”

* * *

Tony froze when he heard his son call for his aunt. Nat hadn’t called to set anything up, so why was she here? He turned around to see not only her, but his best friend and Scott Lang, a man he remembered from Germany. Ant-Man, if his memory served him right.

Natasha smiled a bit at her nephew, stepping forward. Then she raised an eyebrow at Tony.

The genius sighed, walking back up the porch and settling an excited Peter on his lap. “Gosh, Pete. What do you think they want to bother your old man about this time?”

Peter looked up at him, putting his arms up and shrugged. “Maybe they wanna have a party.”

“Maybe.”

Then, when Natasha appeared on the porch with Rhodey and Scott, Peter jumped up to hug her. Natasha laughed, pulling him into her arms and carrying him. 

“Wow, bug. You’ve grown so big!” she marveled.

“I’m almost five! I’m gonna learn next year.” Peter said excitedly.

Rhodey scoffed from behind. “What, so no hug for me?” 

Peter immediately spread out his arms to welcome his uncle, and after he was put down again, Tony told him to go inside and call Steve. 

“Okay.” The young boy rushed inside the home. When the door opened again, instead of it being Peter, it was Steve who walked out. He greeted everyone and nodded at them to start talking.

Tony poured himself a drink, as well as the others after listening to their plan. 

“Now, we know what it sounds like…” Scott began.

“Tony, after everything you’ve seen is anything really impossible?” Rhodey asked.

Tony sighed. “Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we all agree on that?” Tony said matter-of-factly, passing Steve and Rhodey a drink.

Everyone looked confused.

“In Layman’s terms, it means you’re not coming home.” Tony simplified.

“I did.” Scott pointed out.

“No, you accidentally survived,” Tony corrected. “It’s a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a- what do you call it?”

“A time heist.”

“Of course. Yeah, a time heist. Why didn’t we think of this before? Oh, because it’s laughable? Because it’s a pipedream?” he scoffed.

“The stones are in the past. We can go back and get them.” Scott said.

Natasha nodded. “We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back,” Natasha’s face was set in determination.

“Or screw it up more than he already has, right?” Tony reminded them of the consequences of failing.

“I don’t think we would, Tones.” Rhodey spoke up.

“I gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won’t help if there’s no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise.”

Scott shook his head. “Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-“ he listed. Rhodey pinched his nose.

“I’m gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?” Tony raised his eyebrows.

“No,” Scott replied, embarrassed.

“Good. You had me worried there. ‘Cause that’d be horseshit. That’s not how quantum physics works.”

Natasha stepped up. “Tony. We have to take a stand.”

“We did stand. And yet, here we are.”

“I know you got a lot on the line.” Scott told him. “You got a husband,” he gestured to Steve, “a son. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did.” He started to raise his voice. “And now, we have a chance to bring her back. To bring  _ everyone _ back. And you’re telling me that you won’t even-“

“That’s right, Scott. I  _ won’t even _ . I got a kid.” After he said this, the door opened, revealing Peter, who ran straight to Tony. 

“I’m hungry.” he stated.

“Oh, really? Wanna take me up on that cricket and lettuce offer?” Tony teased, carrying Peter and looking over to Scott, Natasha, and Rhodey.

“I wish you’d come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I missed you guys, it was… Oh, and uh, table’s set for six.”

Sighing, Natasha came up to him. “We’re happy for you. We really are. But this is our second chance.”

“I got my second chance right here, Nat.” Tony motioned to the little boy in his arms. “I can’t roll the dice on it.”

The redhead nodded, understanding. She kissed Peter’s cheek, saying her goodbyes to Tony, her nephew, and Steve. 

Walking out with Rhodey and Scott, she started talking. “He’s scared.”

“He’s not wrong.” Rhodey said.

“Yeah, but I mean, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?” Scott asked, lost.

“No. We have to do it right.” Natasha had another person in mind. “We’re gonna need a really big brain.”

Scott looked at her with wide eyes, pointing at the house they had been at. “Bigger than his?”

* * *

Tony sat down at the dining table, giving Peter a spoon to eat his macaroni, and turned to Steve. “You were awfully quiet, Stevie. What’s going through that old noggin?”

Steve chuckled, taking a bite of his food, and turned serious again after clearing his throat. “I just- We got really lucky, Tony,” Steve said, looking at Peter with a small smile. “I wouldn’t want to change what we have for the world. But what if they’re right? What if we could snap, bring everyone back?”

“What they said was crazy. So many things in their time heist plan is flawed. They could easily mess up the timeline and do something worse than what Thanos did.” Tony pointed out. “And even if it does work, they get everyone back, what effect does that have on the five years we had after Thanos? Does it cease to exist? Do we pretend it never happened and go back to what it was? Would we put our family in danger by doing this?”

“I don’t know,” Steve sighed. Did the consequences outweigh the good things that could come out of it? Was he really ready to fight again, and put his family and friends in danger? If Tony was right, and he usually is, would a flaw in the plan mean people born after the Snap wouldn’t exist? Peter wouldn’t exist? He knew he wouldn’t be able to fight if that was the outcome, and his husband wouldn’t either. The idea of time travel was so crazy, and reckless, so was any safe outcome set in stone?

Peter looked at his parents, his face scrunched in confusion. “What’s a time heist?”

They had spent the rest of the day watching movies, playing with legos together, and teaching Peter knew things he was desperate to learn about, which he picked up quickly. They had dinner, and Tony was tasked in washing the dishes while Steve had Peter take a bath and put him to sleep.

Tony lost control of the side sprayer while washing the plates for a second, causing him to spray a picture of Peter with the water. 

“Damn it,” he mumbled, picking up the photo and wiping it. He took a minute to look at his son’s face, smiling brightly at the park, and it was a large contrast to what the world around him had looked like. If he didn’t know better, he’d say Thanos snapped away the sun too. It was as if the world was crumbling and Peter didn’t even know- he just kept on smiling at the camera, and it hurt a bit to think that Peter was just used to that environment. The depressing air around them whenever they left their home, and the sad looks of people who had lost people. Did he want his son to live in a world that was grieving, mourning their loved ones?  _ Gosh, no, never.  _ He couldn’t have Peter face the same problems he had years ago. And that’s when he realized it: If he could help the team with time travel, maybe he could find a way to keep everything they had already, and leave Peter a happy universe to live in. 

So he found himself observing the hologram in front of him, ready to do  _ something.  _ Maybe he could give it a try. It wouldn’t even be possible anyway, right?

* * *

“Come on! I feel like I’m the only one eating,” Bruce laughed, pushing a plate of eggs to the people sitting with him. “Try that. Have some eggs!”

Scott shook his head in shock at the merged version of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. “I am so confused.”

“These are confusing times,” Bruce reassured seriously.

“Right.” Scott agreed. “No, no, that’s not what I meant.”

“No, I get it. I’m kidding!” He smiled. “I know. It’s crazy. I’m wearing shirts now!”

“Yeah. Wh- How? Why?”

“Five years ago, we got our asses beaten. Except it was worse for me. I lost twice. First Hulk lost, then Banner lost. Then, we all lost.” Bruce explained. 

“No one blamed you, Bruce.” Natasha told him.

“I did. For years I’ve been treating the Hulk like he’s some kind of disease- something to get rid of. But then I started looking at him as the cure. Eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together. Now look at me! The best of both worlds!” Bruce smiled widely at the group in front of him, and that’s when three kids chose to walk up to him and ask for a picture. The whole ordeal ended very awkwardly with an embarrassed Scott and a sorry Bruce. 

“About what we were saying…” Rhodey started.

“Right. The whole time travel do-over? Sorry, guys, it’s out of my area of expertise.” he apologized.

“Well, you pulled this off.” Natasha gestured to his body. “I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible, too.”

Bruce contemplated it. “Alright.”


	7. Juice Pops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony rethinks his decision, and the team fails at time travel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry, I tried to get this out yesterday but I didn’t! I really need to get a laptop.

“Friday, you there?”

“Yes, sir,” the A.I. responded.

“Look at a mod inspiration, let me see what checks out. So recommend one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time in the shape of a Möbius strip, inverted please.” Tony has been looking at different models for some time now, about 45 minutes. 

“Processing…”

“Give me the eigenvalue. That, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. That’s gonna take a second.” he said, observing the hologram in front of him.

“Just a moment.”

“And don’t worry if it doesn’t pan out. I’m just kinda-“ he stopped, eyes wide at what he’d just discovered.

“Model rendered.”

_99.987% successful_

Tony put his hands over his mouth, almost shaking. “Shit!”

“Shit.” a young voice copied from behind him, giggling.

The older man raised his eyebrow, turning around to see his son sitting on the steps of the stairs and smiling at him. 

“What are you doing up, little mess?” he asked.

“Shit.” Peter responded.

“First of all, Pops doesn’t like that language, remember? Don’t make me call him down here.” Tony warned.

The boy’s eyes widened a bit at the mention of his father knowing he said the _language_ word. Then he started questioning his dad. “Why are _you_ up?”

“‘Cause I got some important shit going on here! What do you think?” Peter gave Tony a scolding look. “I just got something on my mind. Something on my mind.”

“Was it juice pops?” the almost five year old asked cheekily.

“Sure was. That’s extortion. There’s a new word for you. Great minds think alike.” He looked back at the model he was working on, then turned back to Peter. “Juice pops was exactly on my mind.”

After getting their juice pops, Tony had led the boy to his room, sitting him on the bed. 

“Are you done?” he asked, wiping the sticky red substance on Peter’s lips away, and eating the rest of what was left on the stick. “Now you are.” He pushes the boy’s face with his whole hand down onto the bed. “That face goes there.”

“Can you tell me a bedtime story?” Peter begged, looking wide awake. 

“A story…” Tony hummed. “I have a perfect story. Once upon a time, Bambino went to bed. The end.”

“That’s a horrible story!” Peter laughed.

“You love that story!” Tony argued. He pulled the blanket up to Peter’s neck, and kissed his forehead. “I love you tons.” 

“I love you 3000.” Peter beamed.

Tony looked shocked. Last time, he was 1,208. “Wow,” he marveled silently, turning off the lamp. “3000… that’s crazy.” He pulled the door, almost closing it. “Go to bed. Or I’ll sell all your legos. Night night.”

Right before he fully closed the door, he couldn’t help but smile at the giggles that came from the room.

Tony walked down the stairs, seeing Steve sketching something in front of the fire. He made his way over to his husband. 

“Not that it’s a competition, but Peter loves me 3000. I think you were somewhere in the low 12 to 900 range.” He boasted. 

Steve rolled his eyes playfully, redirecting his attention on the paper.

“What are you drawing?” Tony questioned, fiddling with his hands.

“The plants in the garden.” Steve answered.

“Which ones?” Tony asked absentmindedly.

“Just the-“

“I figured it out by the way.” he blurted. 

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. “Are we talking about the same thing, or…”

“Time travel.” Tony cleared up.

The man immediately dropped his pencil and gave Tony his undivided attention. 

“What? Wait, for the…” Steve trailed off.

“The time heist they were talking about, yeah.” Tony said nervously.

“That’s terrifying.”

“Right.”

Steve sighed. “We got really lucky.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“But a lot of people didn’t.” Steve reminded him.

“Well, I can't help everybody.” Tony shrugged.

“It sounds like you can.”

Tony shook his head. “Not if I stop. I can put a pin in it right now, and stop.”

Steve smiled knowingly. “We both know that once you start you won’t stop. We have the chance to help people. You know what we have to do.”

“I just feel like I should put it in a locked box and drop it at the bottom of the lake and go to bed.” Tony confessed.

“Would you be able to sleep after?”

He shook his head. “No. But what about- we have everyone. We have Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Peter. I have you. What if we could pretend this never happened?”

“ _You_ have everyone. We have an opportunity. And I would never put you or Peter in danger, god knows I don’t want to lose what I’ve been given, but this is bigger than the both of us. You know I lost people too.” 

The genius took a second to think. He had spent so many years protecting the Earth. Protecting families not unlike his own. And now a majority of those families were torn apart by the Snap, and he couldn’t imagine the pain he’d go through if he had lost Peter like other parents lost their children. His husband, as happy as he seemed to be, was still grieving his friend, his family. He lived to see his love and his son happy. _Loving them will be the death of me._

“Then it’s settled. Can you call Pep for me? She might have to take a day off and babysit.”

* * *

“Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one.” Bruce turned to the other man. “Scott, fire up the, uh, van thing.” He gestured to the vehicle.

Scott opened the portal, and Natasha double checked everything around Bruce. A week after talking to Bruce, they had figured _something_ out.

“Breakers are set. Emergency generators are standby.”

“Good, because if we blow the grid, I don’t wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950’s.” Bruce joked.

“Excuse me?” Scott asked nervously.

“He’s kidding!” Natasha covered, nodding reassuringly at the man who had his back to the Quantum Tunnel. She then looked at Bruce. “You can’t say things like that!” she told him in a hushed tone, though cracked a small smile.

“Just… it was a joke.” Bruce told her.

She raised an eyebrow. “You _were_ kidding, right?”

Bruce looked around and whispered back. “I have no idea! We’re talking about time travel here. Either it’s all a joke, or none of it is.” He looked back to Scott and gave him a thumbs up. “We’re good! Get your helmet on, Scott. I’m gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Makes sense?”

Scott put his helmet on, shaking off his nerves. “Perfectly not confusing.”

“Good luck, Scott. You got this.” Natasha smiled.

“You’re right. I do, Black Widow.”

Bruce pressed the button to send him into the tunnel and counted.

“In the count of three. Three… two...one!” He pressed the same button, but instead of Scott appearing in front of them, a teenager did.

The younger version of Scott looked around and at his body. “Uh, this...this doesn’t feel right.”

Bruce scratched his head, looking around at the different buttons in front of him. “What’s going on?”

“That- who is that?” Natasha asked.

“Hold on…” Bruce kept pushing different buttons, panicking. 

“Is that _Scott_?” Natasha asked incredulously.

“Yes, it’s Scott!” The teenager replied, even more panicked.

Bruce then sent him back into the tunnel, and out came an old man- Scott.

“Ow! My back!” The old man groaned.

“What is this?” Natasha questioned.

“Can I get a little space here?” Bruce looked around wildly.

“Yeah, can you bring him back?” Natasha interrogated.

Bruce nodded, pressing the side of a button pad and hoping for the best. The old man was sucked back in, and instead of what they wanted, they got a baby, again, Scott.

“It’s a baby.” Natasha deadpanned. “Seriously?”

“It’s Scott!” Bruce claimed.

“As a baby!” 

“He’ll grow!”

“Bring Scott back!” Natasha demanded.

“Okay, when I say kill the power, kill the power.” Bruce told her, causing her to rapidly move toward the generator. 

“And… kill it!”

She pulled down the lever, and the normal Scott came back out.

“Oh, thank god.” She put a hand over her chest, relieved.

“Somebody peed my pants.” Scott cringed. “I don’t know if it was baby me, old me, or _me_ me.”

Natasha pinched her nose, shaking her head.

“Time travel!” Bruce threw his arms up, grinning.

“Is this the reason I interrupted Rhodey’s mission last week?” 

“What? I see this as an absolute win!” Bruce said optimistically. 

Natasha sat near the Compound, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit disappointed by the outcome of the time travel experiment. She believes in Bruce, but he was probably right when he told them he wasn’t an expert in time travel or the science surrounding it. 

She looks up when she hears an engine, and maybe it was because of the quiet environment, but it was unusually loud. She saw a surely expensive car zooming into the driveway and pulling up a little ahead of her. She smiled when it backed up and the window rolled down to reveal two friendly faces.

Tony pouted. “Why the long face? Let me guess- he turned into a baby.”

“Among other things, yeah.” Natasha laughed. “What are you guys doing here?”

Tony opened his door and stepped out, and Steve did so too. 

“That’s the EPR paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might’ve wound up pushing time through Lang. It’s tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should’ve cautioned you against it.” he said, ignoring her question and looking cocky.

Steve chuckled, pushing Tony’s shoulder teasingly and giving him a scolding look that looked eerily similar to the one their son had given him a few days earlier. 

“You did.” Natasha nodded, still smiling.

“Oh, did I? Thank god I’m here. Regardless, I fixed it.” he joked, pulling out a device. “Fully functioning time space GPS. I just want peace.” He said nonchalantly, holding up a peace sign. “Turns out, resentment is corrosive and I hate it.”

His husband nodded, heading to the trunk with Tony. “Me too.”

“We got a shot at getting these stones, but we gotta tell you our priorities.” Tony told the redhead.

“Bring back what we lost? We hope so.” Steve continued. “Keep what we have? We’ve got to, at all costs.”

“And maybe not die trying will be nice.” Tony added, opening the trunk. 

“Sounds like a deal.” Natasha agreed, shaking their hands. She wouldn’t want to lose Peter either. She knew how hard it would be for Tony to try; he had gotten so lucky with the life he built after the Snap.

Tony grabbed a bag, and Steve pulled out a shield. 

“Don’t be jealous, Nat, the shield was an anniversary present.” He patted her shoulder, causing her to roll her eyes. “You get the bag. Lots of nice little gadgets in here, cooler than those outdated ones you have in the closet. Use them wisely, it took me a while to make all of these. Those widow bites really sting you, don’t they?”

Natasha looked at him gratefully. “Tony-“

“No need,” he interrupted. “Just had to get that out of the house before Peter decided to use it on one of his LEGO weapons. Keep it on the downlow, though okay? I didn’t bring presents for the whole team.” He paused. “We are getting the whole team, right?”

“We’re working on it right now.” Natasha reassured.

“Great!” Tony rubbed his hands together. “Reassemble our little band of misfits.”

“It’ll be good to see them all again. It’s good to be back, Nat.” Steve smiled.

“We’re glad to have our best heroes back too.”

A large ship landed in the yard, near the Compund. Once it had settled onto the ground, the door opened to reveal two members of the team. 

“Hey humie!” Rocket called. “Where’s big green?”

Scott looked up from his taco that had lost everything inside from the force of wind. “Uh, kitchen, I think.” He focused on Nebula. “That’s awesome,” he whispered to himself. 

Nebula looked away, speaking into her earpiece. “Rhodey, be careful on reentry. There’s an idiot in the landing zone.” She walked away confidently, and Scott shrugged. That's when he got startled by a figure landing right near him, making him drop his taco.

“Oh, god!” Scott shouted.

“What’s up, regular sized man?” Rhodey mocked, walking in the direction of Nebula.

The noise made Bruce come out, heading toward Scott, and offering two tacos because of the dropped lunch.

It turns out Bruce and Rocket we’re going to New Asgard, in the countryside of Norway, to collect Thor and convince him to help them with their plan. Everything hadn’t gone exactly right, Thor had suffered greatly from the losses of the Snap and the destruction Thanos brought upon his home and his people. He had agreed to come because of alcohol apparently, but it was enough. 

So they had part of the team assembled. There was still one person missing, though. Natasha had insisted on going after him. “Who else could?” was what she had said when the subject was brought up. It confirmed her doubts and worries when she caught him in the middle of a “mission.”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“Neither should you.”

“I’ve got a job to do.” He responded.

“Is that what you’re calling this? Killing all these people isn’t gonna bring your family back.” She argued gently. “We found something. A chance, maybe.”

He couldn’t hold back his tears at the thought of bringing the lights of his life back. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” 

“Don’t give me hope.”

Natasha felt her own eyes well up with tears, pushing them down, and apologizing. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give it to you sooner.”


	8. Whatever it Takes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving on their ultimate, and hopefully last mission, the Avengers plan on making this count, while Peter, Pepper, and Happy spend time together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This should have been updated on Sunday or Saturday, so I’m so sorry! I had trouble writing this for some reason, and it might be bad. I need to start working on the next chapter ASAP.

“Aunt Pep, do you know when daddy and papa are coming home?” Peter asked, his hands busy with his toys.

“Soon, Petey. You’ll blink and they’ll be right here again.” Pepper told him softly, cutting a sandwich into triangles.

“I think daddy and papa are going to be superheroes, like what they tell me at night. He was fixing his iron man suit last night, I saw. And he put papa’s shield in a box.” the child said excitedly.

His aunt smiled, picking him up and settling him on a chair to eat. “Yup, you found out the little secret. They’re going off to save the universe. And when they come back, your dad said he’d fly you to get ice cream.” As disapproving as she was about that, she knew it would make Peter happy for the time being. He had been missing his parents for a while. He had even, for the first time ever, refused to go to sleep because he didn’t know where his fathers were. “How did you connect the dots? You must be really smart.”

He took a bite out of his sandwich and beamed. “Papa said that I’m intu… intituitive!” he shouted proudly, still unsure about the word.

“Intuitive.” Pepper chuckled. “You sure are. Do you want anything to-“

Peter let out an exaggerated gasp, his eyes lighting up, when he saw through the window a familiar car.

The woman turned to see what he was looking at, and when she saw she sighed tiredly. Getting the boy to stay in one place and eat was hard enough without his fathers there. Now there was one more distraction.

The knob on the front door wiggled a bit and opened to reveal a grumpy looking man, holding a bag.

“Uncle Happy!” Peter squealed, running towards him. The man couldn’t help but let out a smile at seeing the kid.

“Hey, Tony Jr.” Happy called him, making Peter giggle. “How’s it going?”

“Good!”

“That’s awesome. I brought you something, by the way,” he said, waving the bag around.

Peter jumped, trying to peek inside. “What is it?” What is it?”

Happy looked to a smiling, but tired Pepper, and an unfinished sandwich at the table. “You’ll see. But only if you finish your lunch.” 

The boy quickly ran to the table and started biting into his food, and Happy was worried for a bit that he might choke. He watched Peter for a bit, and until he was satisfied that the boy was eating carefully enough, he turned to the woman in front of him.

“Tony is one son of a bitch. Steve too. They could have called!” Happy sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.

Pepper chuckled, smiling slyly. “I recall them telling me they tried you four times. You were probably asleep.” She turned to pour apple juice in a plastic blue cup. “Or,” she took the cup to the table and set it in front of Peter, then turning to Happy again, “you were busy with that nurse you met at the hospital.” Happy’s eyes widened, his cheeks going pink. It surprised Pepper, but she basked in his flustered state.

“What do you mean?”

She ignored his question. “What was her name again?”

“May…”

“May!” Pepper laughed. “You’ve got to invite her over sometime. I’m surprised you haven’t told Tony. And you were going all off about him not telling you about leaving on his mission. Even though technically he tried to.”

“Why do I feel like you’ve been spending too much time with Tony?” Happy sighed, sitting at the table. “Old Pepper wouldn’t do this to me.”

“Uncle Happy you have a _girlfriend_?” Peter’s voice made Happy whip around to look at him. 

“No, we’re just talking!”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. “And would she agree?”

Peter laughed. “ _May_ you have a _Happy_ Valentine’s Day.”

“Nevermind. You haven’t been spending too much time with Tony, you’ve been spending too much time with the kid.”

Amused, Pepper gave Peter a high five. “Clever, Pete.”

Happy rolled his eyes, exasperated. “Why couldn’t he be a little more like Steve?”

Pepper shook her head, watching as Peter gobbled down his last bite, and patiently waited. He was passed the bag by Happy, and when he took out what was inside his jaw dropped. 

“It’s a toolbox! Like daddy has!” He marveled at it, and realized that the bag was still heavy. His uncle grinned. “And colors and art! Like papa! And a-“ he narrowed his eyes at the label before slowly pronouncing the word, “chemistry set! Like the cool scientists! Thank you Uncle Hap!” Peter ran toward the man, embracing him and running back to his new supplies.

“I knew he’d like it.” Happy said smugly.

“He’d like anything you give him.” Pepper scoffed.

“You’re just jealous. It’s not my fault he lost interest in that stuffed giraffe you got him three years ago.” 

“Yeah, I’m totally jealous, because it was _three_ _years_ ago. Never letting it go.” the woman snarked.

“It’s alright.” He put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “He just loves me more than you.”

Pepper shrugged his hand off, standing up and taking out a tablet from a drawer. “I don’t have time for this. We have to call Tony and Steve or they’ll have a heart attack.”

* * *

The Avengers Compound seemed brighter these days, more full of life. The sun shined like it hadn’t in years, like it knew that Earth’s-no the _universe’s_ heroes were back. The grass seemed greener, mountains were at their highest, all the grey in the world was gone. 

Tony would be a blind to not see it. He’d be a fool to not feel it. After a FaceTime with Peter, Pepper, and Happy, he could tell they felt it too. His son wasn’t aware of it, but Pepper definitely had a “everything is already better” look.

“Drifting left. On the side there, Lebowski.” Tony called to Thor. He turned his attention to Rocket. “Ratchet, how’s it going?”

“It’s Rocket.” the raccoon corrected, annoyed. “Take it easy. You’re only a genius on Earth, pal.”

Tony put his hands up in surrender.

“That’s enough for me.”

* * *

Scott adjusted himself in the suit, which was actually similar to his Ant-Man one.

Rhodey looked impressed. “Time travel suit? Not bad.”

Professor Hulk observed the suit, touching it and poking the red tube. 

“Hey, hey! Easy, easy!” Scott warned.

“I’m being very careful.” Bruce said.

“No, you’re being very Hulky.” he disagreed.

“I’m being careful!” the other man argued.

“These are Pym Particles, alright?” Scott yelled, holding the red tube. “And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We’re not making any more!”

“Scott, calm down.” Rhodey said gently.

“Sorry. We got enough for one round trip each. That’s it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs.” He accidentally pressed the button on his suit, shrinking and going back to his regular size. “One rest run.”

Steve, Natasha, Tony, Rhodey, Bruce, and Nebula, and Scott stood near a control panel. 

“All right.” Scott told himself. “I’m not ready for this.”

Clint leaned on the door frame, speaking up after staying quiet for a while. “I’m game. I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?” Natasha asked him.

“Yeah. Why not?”

After changing, he walked back into the room in the suit Scott once wore. Bruce looked up at him.

“Clint, now you’re gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift. Don’t worry about it.” Bruce reassured him as Clint stood on the platform.

“Wait, wait a second,” Rhodey interrupted. “Let me ask you something. If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don’t we just find baby Thanos, you know, and…” the man trailed off, making a tying gesture with his hands around his neck.

“First of all,” Bruce started, horrified, “that’s horrible.”

“Come on, it's _Thanos_!”

“And secondly, time doesn’t work that way. Changing the past _doesn’t_ change the future.” Bruce firmly stated.

“Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them- Thanos doesn’t have the stones. Problem solved.” Scott said easily.

“Bingo.” Clint agreed.

“That’s not how it works.” Nebula corrected.

Clint shrugged. “Well, that’s what I heard.” 

“What? By who? Who told you that?” Bruce asked.

Rhodey listed off with his fingers, “Star Trek, Terminator, Time Cop, Time After Time…”

“Quantum Leap.” Scott added.

“A Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time,” Rhodey continued. 

“Hot Tub Time Machine!” the other man pointed out.

Rhodey nodded. “Hot Tub Time Machine, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”

“Die Hard? No, it’s not one…” Scott shook his head.

“This is known.” Rhodey summarized.

“I don’t know why everybody believes that, but that isn’t true. Think about it: if you travel to the past, the past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past. Which can’t be now changed by your new future.” Bruce explained.

“Exactly.” Nebula commented.

“So…” Scott looked disappointed. “Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit?”

Bruce ignored his question, turning to Clint. “Alright, Clint. We’re going in… 3…2…1!”

A helmet quickly covers Clint’s head, and he was thrown into the Quantum. Everybody patiently waited for their teammate to be brought back, silently worried.

Meanwhile, Clint observed his surroundings, and the memory of his loving family hit him painfully. The helmet retreated, and he noticed a baseball glove that he knew belonged to his son. He looked up when a noise came from the stairs. A familiar voice he loved followed.

“Cooper? Where are my headphones?” Lila called.

The father’s eyes widened. “Lila?” he murmured in disbelief. Suddenly, the watch-like time machine GPS started beeping. He had to go. “Lila!” Clint called desperately, trying to get to his daughter just one last time, before he went back to his present.

“Yeah, dad?” Lila asked, surprised to find nobody there. “Dad?”

Clint gasped, taking deep breaths as quickly as he could as he came back to the Compound, tears finding their way to his eyes.

“Hey, hey.” Natasha comforted him. “Look at me. You okay?”

He threw the baseball glove he had taken from his past and tossed it to Tony. “Yeah. It worked. It worked.”

Tony looked at the glove solemnly. He couldn’t imagine that pain.

* * *

The hologram in front of the Avengers presented the Infinity Stones. Tony, Bruce and Steve found themselves pacing at the front of the table.

“Okay, so the how works. We gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones.” Steve led.

Tony tilted his head nonchalantly. “Well, I’d substitute the word encounter with damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones.” Steve looked at Tony with sadness.

Scott, confused, looked between the two men. “I haven’t. I don’t even know what the hell you're talking about.”

“Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of places throughout history.” Bruce told everyone.

“Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in.” Tony said.

“Which means we have to pick our targets.” Clint nodded.

“Correct.”

“Let’s start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?” Steve asked the god, who was sitting on a chair, sunglasses on and a can in hand. 

“Is he asleep?” Natasha asked skeptically.

“No, I’m pretty sure he’s dead.” Rhodey joked.

Thor suddenly jolted awake, getting up. “Where to start? The Aether, first, is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before. It’s more of a...an angry sludge thing, so someone’s gonna need to amend that. Here’s an interesting story though…” Thor stumbled around, going on an adventurous rant that became pitiful at the end, mentioning black elves, Jane, his home, and his mother’s death. “-and oh, you know, Jane and I aren’t even dating anymore, these things happen though, you know, nothing lasts forever…” he seemed close to tears and Tony decided to guide him back to his chair. “No, I’m not done yet…” Thor argued. “The only thing permanent in life is impermanence!”

“Awesome.” Tony sent him a smile. “Eggs? Breakfast?”

“I’d like a Bloody Mary, thank you.” Thor said politely. 

After a while of talking, everyone was sitting around the table, still discussing the stones, while Rocket paced on the table.

“Quill said he stole the power stone from Morag.” he informed them.

“Is that a person?” Scott asked curiously.

“Morag’s a planet. Quill was a person.”

“A planet? Like in outer space?”

“Oh, look.” Rocket cooed mockingly. “It’s like a little puppy. All happy and everything. Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I’ll get you to space.”

Later on, Nebula told everyone about the Soul Stone while Natasha took notes. So far they knew the stone was found on Vormir. Nebula has described it as a “dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence.” It was the place Nebula’s sister had died by the hands of Thanos.

Scott surely didn’t want to go there. “Not it.”

* * *

“That time stone,” Natasha brought up. 

“Doctor Strange.” Bruce said, lying on the floor while Natasha and Tony lied on the table.

“Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?”

“Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat.” Tony answered.

“Nice place in the village though.” Bruce piped up.

“Yeah. Sullivan Street.” Tony looked to be remembering what had happened five years ago.

Bruce hummed. “Bleecker.”

Natasha paused. “Wait, he lived in New York?” she asked, gathering all the information they had in her head quickly.

“No, he lived in Toronto.” Tony corrected.

“Guys,” Natasha came to a realization, “if you pick the right year, there are _three stones_ in New York.”

Bruce sat up from his spot on the floor. “Shut the front door!”

* * *

“All right. We have a plan. Six stones, three teams. One shot.”

Everybody walked to the platform, and once in their positions, their head covered their body. 

“Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we’re gonna win.” He shared a smile with his husband. “Whatever it takes. Good luck.”

Rocket looked impressed. “He’s pretty good at that.”

“Right?” Scott agreed.

Tony quickly interrupted. “Now, before we commence our mission, I’d just like to say that if this ends up not working and I come back to my kid as an angsty teenager that’s in a constant state of ‘nobody understands me’ it’s on you guys.” Everybody smiled at his joke, something the original six had oddly missed. Steve took Tony’s hand in his, reassuringly. “You heard the man. Stroke those keys, jolly green.”

“Tractors engaged.” Bruce confirmed.

Rocket motioned to the small Benatar in Clint’s hand. “You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll do my best.” Clint replied.

“As far as promises go, that was pretty lame.” 

Natasha grinned at her friends. “See you in a minute.”

Not three seconds after, they had all shrunk and entered the Quantum Realm, many of them separating and going to different times in their history. They couldn’t mess this up- it might be their second chance but that was all they were going to get.


End file.
